Blue Girl: Time and Again
by Invader Insane
Summary: Amelia Jessica Pond receives an unasked for gift from the TARDIS that alters the course of time and space. The Doctor is no longer the very last.
1. Change

This idea has been burning my fingers, I so needed to type it out! I realize this is not a new concept, but I really wanted to give it a go. Many kudos to those who have already done this prompt because they have all done it remarkably well! I can only hope to measure up if even a little.

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of its characters/actors. I do own a TARDIS plush that has patiently allowed me to listen to its awesome sound continuously for hours on end. You win some, you lose some.

8

The Doctor often lurked behind Amy's closed eyes. She used to dream of adventure and chaos, of erupting volcanoes and narrow escapes. But in the time spent with her Doctor away, she could only dream of him. Simply him. His form, thin and garbed in tweed with a face never aging, and his eyes displaying the same old and weary loneliness that could come only from centuries of running.

She dreamt in TARDIS blue shades. The color pervaded her senses until she would wake up thinking it could not have possibly been _just_ a dream. But the gentle snoring of Rory beside her and the sound of rain upon the roof of their suburban home spoke otherwise. There she would lay and stare up at the ceiling, thoughts only of a blue box somewhere and sometime far away.

It was on one of these many nights that she allowed a sigh to escape her lips. She turned over to face the window with its streetlight illumination. She closed her eyes tightly, willing every inch of herself back to sleep.

There she was, floating amidst stardust and faraway moons, breathing air created by some unknown force. She smiled serenely, awaiting the familiar presence of her imaginary friend. But he did not come. She pirouetted, eyes searching the space around her. No one.

She shivered, now keenly aware of the loneliness of space. She closed her eyes tightly in a vain attempt to shut the emptiness out.

"Little Amelia Pond," a voice called to her. It was not the Doctor's, for its tone was distinctly feminine.

Amy twirled around, her fiery hair floating into spirals around her face. Somewhere far away she could hear the tinkling of bells and the familiar sound of a sudden materialization of a very old, very new, and very blue box. Her eyes fell upon the guest in her dream, albeit uninvited but not necessarily unwelcome.

There Idris stood, standing among space with regal grace and a wise air to her. She smiled coyly at Amy, her eyes large and shining, while her skin was all pink and gold and glimmering. She held out a hand, beckoning Amy to grasp it.

Amy's blue nails seemed to complement the bright woman in front of her. Idris, the personification of the TARDIS was there before her. Amy could almost weep in her presence as she grabbed hold of the woman's hand. She squeezed the fingers tightly, unable to shake the feeling that this was a real event occurring.

"I miss you," she said, almost choking on the words. "How is he? The Doctor?"

Idris' smile was bittersweet, a greeting and a goodbye all at once. "Girl Who Waited, Amelia Pond," she began, her voice ethereal, "he needs you more than you could ever know."

Idris' hand squeezed back. Amy exhaled slowly. Pictures of a darkened console room and a lone figure leaning over the levers and buttons, eyes tightly shut in pain, flooded her vision. No wound was evident on his body. The pain was that of a lonely dreamer, of an aimless hero left alone to fight existence and live forever. His shoulders began to shake as if the weight of the world was finally too much for this noble Atlas. All at once the image broke away, fading like the sun on the end of a winter's day. The sun that flew away to leave the world's creatures to bear the cold.

And suddenly Idris' lips were upon Amy's. There was no time to think a coherent thought.

To Amy, kissing her was unreal. It was like trying to swallow a star, and allowing its light to replace your blood with a bright and intense fire. It was like floating in space mere seconds away from a gravitational pull that would send you sky rocketing back to the ground in a blur of fear and skin splitting wind. It was like kissing the core of creation, kissing time itself. It was clumsy yet consuming in its power.

To Idris, kissing her was like feeling the red grass of Gallifrey underfoot. Like sensing the impression of her mass on a ground that no longer existed. It was a memory grasped and deemed real for one intense moment. It made her undeniably sad and irrevocably happy all the same.

"Take this and find us," Idris whispered into Amy's lips. Her form slipped from Amy's fingers, though she tried to grasp it with all her might.

Tears fell in long, warm streaks upon Amy's face. "I will," she cried into the nothingness that took Idris, the TARDIS; all her childhood wonderment that arrived with a blue box in her garden one fateful night. But she did not know what Idris had even meant. Take what?

Amy could hear thunder from outside her dreamscape. It sounded again, an echo to the first strike of lighting's sound. It grew louder, frenzied, before she realized it was not thunder at all. It was coming from within her, a pounding that could only be human. A human heartbeat. Yet it wasn't. Heartbeats did not echo. That was an impossibility. Right?

She sat bolt upright in bed, hand over her chest. There it was. A heartbeat. Then what? An echo of that same heartbeat? Impossible! Impossible... but it wasn't. Impossible Amelia Pond did not feel one heartbeat.

She distinctly felt two.

8

Taking a break to continue brainstorming and doodling Amy Pond all over my planner.


	2. Travel

Long chapter.

Disclaimer: Not owning, simply writing.

8

Amelia Pond spent a great deal of waiting. As a child she had waited patiently for her aunt to return home before allowing herself to drift to sleep. On the night she met the Doctor, she had waited earnestly for his return. She had waited in the cold, a suitcase tucked underneath her form, dreaming of stars and someone who would not abandon her despite all she had grown accustomed to. So when she was 19, she had vehemently denied that she had ever waited at all. But there he was, and there she was again, waiting for him to sweep her into the star's embrace.

Without her knowing, she had also waited for nine months in captivity, held hostage by the Silence. She had waited in agony for the Doctor to return her child to her, a promise he had indirectly kept. Without her knowing, she had waited and fought in an alternate reality of sorts, against robots that attempted to cure her with a toxin that would instead kill her. She had waited again when time stopped, fighting the Silence face to face with an organization of her own creation. The time she had spent waiting, then fighting, then waiting again could stretch centuries.

Truly, she had spent much time waiting. While other people spent a good portion of their time waiting in line or waiting at the bus stop, Amelia Pond had spent her life waiting for the adventure to begin, end, and begin again.

She sat in her usual chair in the garden awaiting the oncoming visit from her long lost child, River Song. Her demeanor differed drastically from their usual meetings. She was stiff, yet her eyes were wide with thought.

A disturbance in the air and flash of light signalled River's arrival. The woman shook out her golden lions main and gave her mother a flashy smile between parted red lips.

"Evening, mummy," she greeted and waltzed over to take the seat beside Amy. It was only as she drew nearer did she sense the change. "You..?" she gasped, clearly stunned.

Amy looked to her daughter with no surprise. "So you can feel it too?" she asked hesitantly. Her Scottish accent lingered heavily on the "too." She was quiet for a moment, staring into the other woman's eyes. "But how can you tell?"

River sunk into the chair, her face grim. "Amy," she said, no longer with traces of Melody Pond's attitude, but now wholly River Song. "Amy, how did this happen? How did... how is it that you are- How did you become a Time Lord?"

"Oie," Amy retorted, her personality coming through despite the seriousness of River's gaze, "this is your mother you're talking too. The one who birthed you. That requires lady like parts, I would say. Not a lord! More like," she paused, thinking, "more like a lady. Time Lady." The words felt strange but right. It was an appropriate term for the ginger headed stargazer.

"Mother, you have no idea what this could mean," River said anxiously, "You of all people know the dangers that come with having even the smallest amount of Time Lord DNA." River tensed suddenly, and Amy's expression softened.

She placed her hand over River's. "I know," she answered, her voice quiet and soothing. "But right now the person I need to talk to the most is the Doctor."

River gave her a speculative look. "Couldn't help you there, sweetie. I haven't seen my husband since our soiree at the Singing Towers." Her eyes took on a dreamy look. "Oh, the night we-"

"River!" Amy shouted, shoving her index finger onto the woman's lips. Her hand clutched River's more fiercely than before. "I think maybe I could live without the constant reminder of my mother-in-law status."

River smiled slyly before letting her expression slip into something dark and more solemn.

"He wasn't the same, you know. He seemed so sad. Like he was forcing something to be more beautiful than it could ever hope to be."

Amy pulled her hand away from River's. "Do me a favor, will you?"

"Anything for you, mum," River replied sweetly.

With much effort Amy forced out the next sentence. "Take care of your father for me," were Amy's last words before disappearing in a flash of retina singeing light.

River looked down to her Time Vortex-less arm in silent disapproval. Still, a smile that was trademark River Song spread across her visage. She leaned back in the chair, deciding it was best to get comfortable because she would be here for quite some time. "Oh, mummy," she whispered reverently, "I always knew I couldn't have gotten it all from them."

* * *

><p>Amy sped through time in a vortex of color and soundlessness. The Manipulator was so different from the TARDIS; it was an instant jump from one time to the next. She stumbled as her feet once again found solid ground. Her senses were flooded by the new surroundings. A strong scent of apples filled the air, and birds called in the distance.<p>

Wide eyed Amy drank in this new world and attempted to notice everything. The trees that gave off this apple scent were curved and swirling in stature. The bark glistened as though coated with fresh rain, but it was apparent that the beads coating their frames were embedded in their very fibers.

The breeze brought a warm current of air through her hair, rippling the red and gently tugging at her clothes. Amy wondered where she was and took a long look at the Manipulator for answers. It read, "A Quiet Place: come here to think."

Amy tapped the screen in frustration. Had River rigged it to fit her own personal agenda? But she could not help but smirk at her daughter's cunning. _Always a step ahead_, she thought. Her thoughts shifted to the Doctor. _Always a fleeting memory_, she marveled as her fingers gripped the Vortex Manipulator a little tighter.

She turned at the sound of voices approaching. A pitch black tentacled creature slunk towards her, its many arms hanging limply behind it. "River?" it gurgled to her. "You've gone an regenerated, aye? And my, what a lovely form you've taken on!" The creature waggled its arms at her. "Hair much more manageable now?" Seeing her expression, he quickly asked, "Here for the usual?"

Amy could only nod for her lips were pressed into a thin line to keep them from gaping open in both excitement and terror. The creature gave her a large, sharped tooth grin before sliding its bulbous eyes inside its murky form and allowing them to pop up on the other side of his body, an interesting alternative to simply turning around. He slid away and she followed behind somewhat dubiously, wondering what "the usual" could possibly be.

Their stroll led them to a small cottage, hardly large enough to have more than one room. The grass seemed to fade from a normal green color to a strange silvery shade. The trees stooped towards the structure as if bowing to it in respect. The creature drew one of its many arms and unlocked the door with a brief wave. It clicked open as the thing scooted away, bidding her farewell.

She stepped into the dwelling and was greeted by hundreds of monitors flickering to life. She blinked, a flashback of Weeping Angels and difficult remotes hitting her before she hastily shrugged it off. Images played on each screen for a moment before Amy could realize what they were.

These were River Songs memories on video. Staring intently at one screen, Amy saw that it was her own, much younger face smiling a toothy little smirk at Mels. She remembered the day, though it was a faint recollection. They had just gotten in trouble for the very first time over Melody's declaration of the Doctor's existence. The first time, so Amy had been more thrilled by it than irritated as she would come to be by her friend's repeated attempt at telling off her teacher.

Amy's hand found a switch on the wall. She flicked it on and the screens gradually shut off one by one. It was too personal, too raw for her to be diving so deeply into anothers memories, even if they did pique her curiosity. In a way, it also pained her to see her child's memories. They were so ridiculously different and _wrong_ from what they should have been. It would wound her deeply if she were forced to relive herself shooting the spaceman she now knew to be her only child.

She walked further into the room, her hand sliding over the screens in absent minded listlessness. She arrived at the last, darkest screen in the room and thought about leaving. She turned, fully expecting to do so before being snagged by a wire. It zipped out of an unknown compartment and latched onto the Vortex Manipulator. The thing lit up and sparked, its energy creeping through the wire and into the screen. History of the Manipulator's usage began filtering onto it. Needless to say, River had been a busy girl.

With a brush of her finger against the string of locations, she found she could scroll through the history. She went back farther and farther then stopped. The TARDIS had been accessed by the Doctor's use of the Manipulator, she recalled. He had used it to rescue River during the Pandorica episode. Her finger hovered over the name, and she wondered if it could really be _that _easy.

She bit her lip. What could she possibly have to say to him? Sorry, but it seems as though the TARDIS has changed me into a Time Lord, mind if I hang around for a bit like old times until I can get a hold of the idea? Just the thought of it seemed silly. How could she possibly break such life changing news to him? Would he be able to sense it on her as easily as River had? Then what? And Rory. Oh, Rory, how will it be when he finds out, if River hadn't already told him? She wouldn't, though. River was the best at keeping secrets.

But Amy was a big girl. She was a big, Time Lady girl that must face the last of her kind less she wander the universe with little than a clue as to the repercussion of her mere existence. She inhaled deeply and jammed her finger onto the location.

A blinding light and she was gone again.

8

Doctor's appearance, next chapter!


	3. Dropping In

Quick development, short update.

Disclamer: Don't own Pond or her Raggedy Doctor.

8

Amy Pond's feet rocked out from underneath her as she landed on unsteady ground. Her first reaction was to reach for the TARDIS railing to steady herself and prevent a nasty fall. Her hand shot out but grasped something entirely different. Her gaze drifted slowly upward, almost too afraid to face him. Green met green. Hand met hand. There he was - still garbed in tweed and brandishing the bluest of bow ties, the loneliest man in the universe.

His free hand grasped her shoulder, patted her hair, smoothed itself over her cheek. "Amelia Pond?" he swallowed. "Impossible Pond," he continued, eyes searching hers like a man starved of companionship. "Could it really be you? Or has this mad man finally come undone?"

She clasped his hand to her cheek, its familiarity almost too much for her to bare. Her thumb ran over the back of it as the softest of smiles spread across her face. "Doctor," she said, her eyes overflowing with water.

"Happy tears," he cried in the quietest of tones, "so human. But Amy, glorious Pond, that is the very last thing you are." He clutched her to his chest almost violently. She felt the pounding of his two heartbeats and wondered if he could hear hers thundering just as frantically.

The TARDIS heaved and they fell to the floor, a flurry of limbs and a flash of brilliant crimson hair. The shaking subsided and calmness rushed over the console room. His hands were tangled in the red strands, but he seemed in no hurry to remove them. They lay beside each other, incapable of looking away from one another, an endless staring contest with no winner. Her leg draped over his hip, his foot hung loosely over her ankle. He smiled a genuine, heartbreaking smile that thrilled her to the core. But it faded from his face like blood from an open wound.

He grasped a little tighter and pulled her face closer to his, eyes full of agony unlike any she had seen in her dream with Idris. "How could this have happened?" And why was he filled with such irrevocable joy? He should be mourning the death of his friend's humanity. But with her mere inches away from him, her face and hair smelling just as sweet as an unnamed flower blooming only on the farthest reaches of the universe in the violet waters of a bottomless sea, he could not think logically. He cherished the moment, shunning the realities and running from the dangers of this impossibility. He thanked every passing regeneration and every failed companionship that had brought him closer to the woman, the Time Lord, in front of him.

Her red lips moved, but he did not catch what she said. He was so absorbed in the seconds ticking by with her still there, still real. She smiled. "Maybe we should get off the floor?" she teased gently.

"Oh!" she had broken his reverie. He rolled away almost as if the smooth whiteness of her skin could burn. Hoisting himself up with the TARDIS console, he again lent Amy his hand. His face reflected the stern seriousness the Doctor only reserved for moments her life was threatened by her own stupidity or selective hearing.

He pulled out his sonic screw driver. "You gonna sonic me?" she grinned mischievously. He didn't smile back but proceeded to search her over. He held the sonic up to the level of his eyes and looked at the signs. Apparently what he read did not please him for he leaned back on the console and shut his eyes tightly.

"What is it?" she asked, grasping his arm in worry.

He turned to her, his expression pained. "Just confirming what I already knew," he said to her, shaking his head. Amy stared at him uncertainly.

"So what does this mean?"

He did the last thing she expected him to do: he got angry. "Well, it means you certainly will not ever be able to live a normal, human life," he shouted, slamming his hands on the console. He swatted her hand away, and she stepped back in mild terror. She had not seem him this angry since their Starship UK escapade on her first night in the TARDIS or, worse, when his ganger threw her up against the harsh brick wall at that dreaded factory. He turned around to stare at the monitors and levers decorating the console's exterior. "It means you will have to spend every waking moment of the rest of your long existence running from evil. It means you will have to be vigilant and aware of every possible outcome. You will never again be able to relax, Amelia Pond, or your life could very well be put in the utmost of danger. And when all others die, when all others fade away, there will only be you, time and time again living life with a new face - a new personality even - but with the same painful memories!"

"Doctor," she whispered, and reached toward him, past his swatting hands and to his face. "Doctor, I have a feeling you aren't talking about me anymore." She frowned. "Look, I - I know you've been alone for a long time. And the last thing I want in the world is to ever be as lonely as you have. So please, please, Doctor," she rested her forehead onto his, "don't send me away. Don't push me out. I need your help adjusting to this new me, and I have a feeling you might just need my help too."

The sonic screw driver slipped from his hands as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "No, no, no, never," he told her. "I could never do that to you, Amy. We'll figure this out together, I swear it. You won't have to be alone."

"And neither will you," she answered, her fingers running gently through the hair on the scruff of his neck.

They pulled away from each other, suddenly giddy. He smiled again, the same genuine smile that was almost mad in its clarity. She smiled weakly in response before staggering a little. She placed her palms to her temples and massaged them roughly.

The Doctor placed his fingers gently over hers. "You need rest." She nodded, lips pressed firmly together.

He led her up the stairs and before she knew it, he had removed her boots and shifted her jacket off her shoulders. In a moment, he had her tucked safely away in bed. Distantly she could remember a similar occurrence, a memory of a garden and a child, a night of waiting, and a story told only once of adventures thought not to have happened. He brushed her ginger hair behind her ear. When he got up to leave, she pulled at his sleeve.

"Stay?" she asked, patting the side of the bed in a child-like manner. The Doctor sighed through his smile and fell beside her with an audible thump. She laughed and lay there with him, listening to the quiet hum of the TARDIS drifting through space.

She rolled over to look at him, pulling the white sheets pulled to her mouth. Blue painted finger nails showed as she gripped the comforter tightly.

"I saw her, you know," she said to him, eyes feeling heavy and words wandering from her mouth in a sleepy haze.

"Who?" he asked, delighted by her expression.

"Idris," she breathed. That got his attention. He attempted to keep calm, but the Doctor was all at once swept over by a number of unfathomable emotions. He kept his eyes steadily on her face. Silence fell between them, and for a time he assumed she had fallen to sleep.

"She kissed me," Amy said then and chuckled as though it were an inside joke she had just alluded to. "I properly kissed the TARDIS. Wish you were me, don't you?" she smugly Doctor said nothing, astonished at this development. "She was so beautiful, Doctor," she muttered into his ear, now closer than ever.

8


	4. Unanswered, Unquestioned

Long time no see?

Disclaimer: Wish I owned the actual TARDIS and its fun loving group of time travelers, but I don't!

8

He could feel it. The Doctor could feel her dreams imposing on him like great tidal waves, lapping at his waist with the intent to consume. Unable to neglect his curiosity, he dove into the pressure, inhaled it, felt it slide over his skin in droplets and streams, and allowed it to overtake him. He surrendered to Amy's mind as quickly and easily as a child to sleep. But when it came to Amelia and her Doctor, they were always such a children, now weren't they?

He could feel himself being lifted off his feet and as he waded through darkness. His searching eyes wandered through the abyss. He could feel her presence, but as to where she was he had no clue. He briefly wondered if this was too much a strain; if maybe this invasion of privacy would do better to be tested later rather than sooner.

"Doctor?" her voice, low and oh so enthralling, came to him and ate away at his resolve. He shook his head almost violently in an attempt to clear it. He licked his lips.

Before he knew it, she was before him and smiling in a way that tempted him to the brink of an entirely different kind of madness. But through her smile he heard her say it.

"He's here," she said, directing the comment to someone behind him. He slowly turned but was shoved back, a hand pressed to his face so intensely that it sent him hurtling through walls of immersion and violently ripped him from the dreamland.

The Doctor's eyes opened with an exaggerated slowness. He blinked once, twice, mulling over what just occurred. He felt... deprived. Unwanted, even. But it couldn't have been Amy that pushed him out; she had willingly eased him into her mind, though it had been subconsciously! Unless she meant to yank him around on purpose, a way of teasing him with her thoughts (which she often did). Still, her Time Lord abilities should have been that of a novice - a Gallifreyan child - not powerful enough to so easily push him away. No, it wasn't Amy, he thought, glancing down at her still sleeping form.

His breath caught in his throat. He ginger hair lay blooming around her face. The sheets had long ago slipped from her fingers and lay about her in a tangled blanket of whiteness. Her eyelashes, long and fluttering like the restless tips of a cardinal's wing, lay still for once in sleep. He loosened his bow tie nervously. His long fingers shook in the act. A gulp and he was smoothing down his hair again, his slender fingers yanking at the roots.

Her hand brushed against his arm. She exhaled and opened her eyes.

"Well, hello," she whispered, and he started to sweat. She propped herself up on her elbow and gave him an incredulous look. "What? You look as if we spent the whole night snogging," she broke off, her eyes narrowing, "or perhaps something a bit more intimate?" She smirked as he mumbled incoherently, colouring at the intensity of her catty green eyes and suggestive manner.

Still, the Doctor pulled himself upright, and a thought occurred to him. He couldn't help it; she made him feel so ridiculous. He yanked the blankets so they unfurled from around here, pushing her over the edge of the bed. She fell and landed with a thud. Her hair cascaded over her eyes, brilliant in its messiness.

She blew pieces away and folded her arms over the edge of the bed, eyeing him playfully. "So, what's the plan for today?" she asked, opting to settle back into routine with ease.

He thought for a moment, index finger rubbing his chin as he crooked his head to the side and squinted. "Perhaps the snowy - no, not since - maybe the? Course not, rubbish plan. How about - er," he thought, upper lip twitching a bit in irritation from lack of ideas.

"D-doctor?" Amy stuttered, her fingers making creases in the sheets, "How is it your mouth isn't moving but I can hear you just fine?" She tilted her head. Her lips remained parted, unable to finish any further thought.

The Doctor stopped his thought process and properly looked at her, something he had attempted to avoid after her sudden awake-ness. His brow furrowed as he reached a hand to her forehead. His nails danced over her skull, and she looked at him in mild irritation.

"Oye," she said, swinging her hand against his in protest, "Bit annoying, don't you think?" He ignored her pipe and continued his ministration without the tiniest of breaths ebbing from his lunges.

"You're a Time Lady, Pond," he answered her, "Bound to have a couple neat things in store for that impossible brain of yours." His hand lingered on her for a moment before flitting away. "Yes, well, needless to say, Time Lords are cool. _We're_ cool, Pond, and in the time we spend together the more we'll find out about," he gestured to her up and down, "_this_ whole thing."

"Hey," she snapped, "this whole thing? People love this whole thing!" She pointedly held herself away from the edge of the bed and waved a hand down her torso. "Always in demand, this thing," she huffed.

He gave her a bemused look. But concern coloured his features when her expression fell. "What is it, Amelia?"

She shook her head, dispelling the emotion, and grinned at him. "Curious how I've been here for long enough and all we've done is sleep," Amy retorted. "What, no planets?" The Doctor saw this for what it was: a diversion. He saw but chose not to comment... for now, at least. He tucked the topic safely away for another time.

He found himself spitting out feathers when she whapped him over the face with one of the pillows. "That's for pushing me off the bed, you idiot."

He was up in a second, hand extended in the politest of gestures. She gave him a rare, coy smile and placed her hand in his own to be hoisted up for the second time since their reunion.

"So, planets, I heard? Oh, Pond, you are in for it this time!" He spread his arms wide in excitement. "We have the universe at our fingertips, you and me, time and space." The Doctor revelled in the thought. "Let's go places!" He grabbed her hands and joyfully led them out of the room.

They entered the console room as full of life as before. Amy twirled a finger in her hair and skipped around the controls, dainty touches caressing the twists and tugs of the TARDIS.

"Sexy thing," she cooed conspiratorially to the machine. The Doctor pretended not to notice, but, by god, something intense stirred within him at her words. He dared not name the feeling.

He pulled a lever but felt his hand slip away. He rubbed his sweaty palms on the tweed of his jacket and reached to straighten his bow tie.

Amy peaked at him from the other side of the console. "Does this mean I can fly her?"

The Doctor snorted. "Asks the girl who passed her driver's test with the aid of a skirt," he replied as he shot his hand back up to yank down the same lever. His mouth twisted to the side as he thought about it.

"Melody - ah, _River_ - can, and she's only half the Lady I am," Amy laughed, "Oh, god, she really is! She really is half of me!" Amy cover her hand with her mouth and braced herself against the TARDIS railing. She stole a glance at the Doctor but was surprised by his somber expression. "Guess birthing jokes aren't funny," she quirked an eyebrow.

Thus began their strange dance around specifics and the rift between Amy and her Doctor. Like a terribly rehearsed musical sequence, they side stepped and twirled, avoiding each others eyes as they extended their arms but never touched upon the secrets they tucked deep inside themselves. But it would only be a matter of time before the music ceased, and he'd find himself stepping on her feet and she'd end up elbowing him in the ribs.

Until then, he would stare at her and smile. He would smile the mad, genuine grin that reminded her of Christmas and the smell of her garden on a sleepy Leadworth night and a Star Whale's kind heart and ice cream for a troubled soul. He would smile and say, "Of course." His eyes crinkling in tiny waves of joy.

The TARDIS lurched, lighting itself up with a dazzling number of colours and sounds. Amy laughed, clapping her hands together and bending over the console.

"I missed this!" she declared, her heart hammering with excitement.

"I missed you," he replied.

Her eyes softened. She looked up at him from beneath her lashes and, hesitantly, strangely, reached for his arm, squeezing it. He put his hand over hers, and they stood their for a moment. But time was short and adventure called. The TARDIS thudded as it materialized on some curious, far away planet.

The Doctor's arms shot up and he spun, kicking up his heels in the action. "Planets!" he exclaimed. "Ah, but, Amy, this planet is very, very special."

"Oh? How so?" They ventured to the TARDIS door, and the Doctor grabbed hold of the handle, swinging it open with grand theatrics. Together, they peered out.

There it was! A medley of colours and scents poured into their faces quite literally. Amy's expression soured as she found herself wiping away the fragrant and apparently purple perfume spray that a native had, in his haste for a potential customer, spilled onto the two TARDIS occupants just as they stuck their faces out the door. Her lips parted into a horrible scowl.

"Special, eh?" she gave the Doctor a pointed look and flicked some of the liquid into his face. His face scrunched in reply to the gesture.

"Normally the greetings are a lot less, er, messy." He pulled her from out the doorway and closed the door behind them with an agreeable click.

8

Have some inspiring music for planet exploration? Add it to a comment! I would love to have some input! Cheers.


End file.
